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Our recent visit to the North Mayo Heritage Centre

Submitted by webmaster on Wed, 14/03/2018 - 21:36

Recently we took a road trip to visit the North Mayo Heritage Centre located near the village of Crossmolina. This was on the invite of Hugh Trayer, Manager of the centre. We had loaned a piece of P&T telephone memorabilia to their current exhibit entitled "The Post Office and Rural Life" which focuses predominantly on the post office and the important role it plays in rural life in Ireland.

The phone system in question is a Ecicsson Bakelite PMBX (private manual branch exchange) with P&T Branding. The best way to describe it is like a small business phone system from the 1960's with 2 incoming lines and 4 internal extensions. It's a pretty impressive piece of kit but I must admit, we know very little about it! I previously reached out to the community Facebook pages “Eircom Memories” and “telecommunications heritage group” and got some insightful information at the time... which reminds me, I must follow up some more.

So enough about the phone system for now. Some of the other items on exhibit include a Morse code telegraph key from the An Post Museum Archive, an old P&T postbox, an old payphone and a number of other beautifully preserved items from private collectors.

Located on the adjoining estate of Enniscoe House, the North Mayo Heritage Centre is less than 5km south of the village of Crossmolina (20 minutes from Ballina). The premises also host the Secret Garden Cafe which has to be one of the most enjoyable cafe experiences I have had in a long time. It's has a very cosy atmosphere and the staff there are both welcoming and friendly. Last but not least, there is Bridget on reception at the centre who was full of insightful information on the exhibit and really helpful with our series of questions!

North Mayo Heritage Centre and the exhibit is really worth a visit if you are based in or visiting Co. Mayo. I look forward to returning in the coming months to explore the museum more and walk the estate and its beautiful gardens. The brochure of the current and upcoming exhibits can be accessed here